By Adesina Wahab
A group, the Urhobo Youth Forum For Change, UYFC, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to without further delay inaugurate the Pius Odubu and Bernard Okumagba-led executive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, without further delay.
This is just the group that has threatened to join the ongoing protest against the Federal Government’s refusal to constitute the board of the Commission, warning that the tradition of peace of the Urhobo people shouldn’t be taken for granted.
The Coordinator of the group, Eshanekpe Israel, a.k.a Akpodoro, stated this in a statement in Ughelli.
He noted that the Urhobo speaking people of Delta State were the most patient tribe in Nigeria, stressing that the President should inaugurate the board that had already been screened by the Senate.
According to Akpodoro, the people of the region had been taken for granted for so long, and those putting their feet on the people’s necks should stop that now.
He wondered if the FG was waiting for a time restive youths would start attacking oil facilities before the needful would be done.
He commended the efforts of Ijaw youths who have to be at the forefront of forcing the President to rescind his decision of allowing the intervention agency to be managed by a sole administrator in lieu of a statutory board, wondering why the FG wanted the agency to be managed under sole administratorship.
“For us at UYFC, the Ijaw group who filed out in protests since last week acted our minds and we are solidly behind every move to inaugurate Okumagba-led executive board and we shall stop at nothing to stampede the government to inaugurate a board constituted by the President and duly screened by the Senate of the Federal Republic.
“We have in Urhobo land the Otorogun gas plant the largest in West Africa, yet, we have nothing to show for it. President Buhari will be deliberately inviting trouble if he refuses to inaugurate the board.
We are tired of the deceptions called a forensic audit. Urhobo people will no longer watch while some people ride roughshod on our collective intelligence as a people. The people of Urhobo land are tired of this macabre dance,” Akpodoro stated while calling on Urhobo leaders to stand up to their responsibilities by supporting the youths in times like this.
